With the help of a historian, this 3 hour private walking tour allows you to grasp the “goulash communism” of Budapest’s decades under totalitarianism, the soft dictatorship in which Hungarians had certain liberties in exchange for obedience on major issues. Learn why, for all the suffering of Budapest’s citizens under the communist regime, Hungary was called “the happiest barrack in the Soviet Bloc.”
Your guide will meet you at your central hotel or flat and lead your group by metro, tram or foot (when the sites are close). Tickets are provided if you do not have a pass. We'll write to request your address when we send you your guide's phone and photo. If you don't want a pickup or do not respond with an address, please meet your guide 15 minutes before start time at the default meeting point.
Bambi Eszpresszó, Frankel Leó út 2/4, 1027 Budapest
We conclude outside the House of Terror, the imposing museum housed in the former headquarters of the communist secret services. (The exhibit within is not included in the tour, but it is the perfect endpoint for those interested in delving deeper into Hungary’s Cold War experience).
Traveling by subway to Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, we explore monuments from the 1956 revolution, before continuing to Liberty Square where we discuss aspects of the Cold War before the US Embassy, the monument to the Soviet Army, the statue of Ronald Reagan and an atomic shelter.
We conclude outside the House of Terror, the imposing museum housed in the former headquarters of the communist secret services with a slab of the Berlin Wall in front. (Although the exhibit within is not included in the tour, this is the perfect endpoint for those interested in delving deeper into Hungary’s Cold War experience)
Dropping by the former People’s Stadium (now Puskas Soccer Stadium), with classic socialist realist statues still standing, we can explore the heavy-handed propaganda favored by the regime.
Discover the Ronald Reagan statue and the Hungarian sense of obligation to this US president for his efforts to bring down the Iron Curtain.
Explore Bem József Square, where the first big demonstration of the 1956 uprising started. On the square is also a coffeehouse that has retained its original interior from the 1960s.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
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You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
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